Snapdeal claims to offer fastest deliveries in ecommerce, says it is ahead of Flipkart, Amazon

An April report by Red Seer said Snapdeal had the fastest average delivery time of 3.9 days, followed by Amazon at 4.1 days and Flipkart at 5.1 days.Biswarup Gooptu | ET Bureau | May 10, 2016, 18:27 IST

NEW DELHI: Citing industry reports, Snapdeal, India’s largest online marketplace in terms of sellers, has claimed to provide the fastest deliveries in the Indian ecommerce space, outpacing its peers, which include, Flipkart, the country’s largest ecommerce company, and Amazon India.

In an official statement, and citing two industry reports published by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Red Seer Consulting, the New Delhi-headquartered company said its “commitment to deliver was, on average, faster than Amazon by at least 1-1.5 days across metros and tier-2 and tier-3 cities. The lead is even wider with Flipkart trailing Snapdeal by 2 –2.5 days in big and small cities.”

“The PwC report shows that Snapdeal’s commits for delivery in 5 days in Metro and Tier 1 cities, as opposed to Amazon and Flipkart’s commitment of nearly 6.5 days. In Tier 2 and Tier-3 cities, Snapdeal commits to deliver in 6 days, while Amazon promises delivery between 7-8 days and Flipkart takes longer at 8-9 days,” the press release said.

According to the company, global consulting giant PwC’s findings were based on delivery benchmarking exercises for categories, such as, electronics and apparel, which contribute up to 75% of the total sales recorded by ecommerce sector.

“35 SKUs with assured availability across three major players – Snapdeal, Amazon and Flipkart, were serviced from their respective fulfilment centres and tracked across 119 delivery pin-codes in Tier-1, 2 and 3 cities. The comprehensive mapping of average delivery time found Snapdeal to be the leader in on-time delivery across regions,” the press statement said.

The PwC report follows the one released by Red Seer in April. That report said Snapdeal had the fastest average delivery time of 3.9 days, followed by Amazon at 4.1 days and Flipkart at 5.1 days.

The Red Seer report also indicated that Snapdeal had a 99% delivery accuracy, indicating that 99% of the orders get delivered in the time committed by the company at the time of order booking. The consulting firm had conducted a mystery shopping exercise, by tracking 6,000 orders across 25 cities.

“The recognition of our best-in- class delivery experience by PwC and Red Seer, is a resounding validation of our efforts to build robust logistical capabilities using both technology and partnerships,” said Jayant Sood, chief customer experience officer at Snapdeal.

In September last year, ET was the first to report that the company had laid out plans to spend an additional $100 million on strengthening its supply chain and logistics operations, as it prepared to take on rivals in a bruising battle for dominance in India’s ecommerce sector.

This was in addition to the $200 million that the company had said it would spend, as it built up capacity to to fulfil 1,000 orders a minute, with the specific goal of being able to fulfil 10,000 orders a minute at peak time.

In the official statement, the company said it has added 2 million square feet of warehousing space spread over 25 cities and built 63 fulfilment centres to increase its reach to new geographies. It has partnered with over 20 specialized logistics companies, creating a delivery network that reaches 28,000 pin codes.

“The ability to promise quick deliveries and consistently deliver within that is an important part of our mission to create India’s most reliable and frictionless commerce ecosystem,” Sood said.